P&L Specialties acquires Tom Beard
SANTA ROSA — Winery crushpad equipment maker P&L Specialties is moving further into the winemaking process with the pending acquisition of Tom Beard Co., the top manufacturer of automated oak barrel washers.
P&L President Ed Barr, 47, and Tom Beard, 64, reached the agreement on March 15. However, Mr. Beard, his production manager and another employee already have relocated from the 2-year-old Cloverdale facility to P&L’s plant at 1650 Almar Parkway near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.
The deal is set to close in May. Exchange Bank is financing the transaction.
The economic crimp on fine wine sales is pressuring companies dependent upon winery capital spending, according to Mr. Barr. For example, expenditures on P&L equipment decreased by 50 percent in the past two years, he said.
“It’s hard on a lot of equipment suppliers,” he said. “Tom and I have been talking about this transition for five years, and now it made better sense.”
P&L Specialties and Tom Beard Co. will remain separate brands and companies but share production staff under one roof. P&L’s welders and technicians can build the company’s 20 types of systems as well as Tom Beard’s barrel washers. The combined staff now is 27.
Mr. Beard also is working with P&L designers on efficiency gains for the crushpad equipment. Efficiency in cost of production is necessary to sell devices these days, according to Mr. Barr.
“Last year and this year more than ever, we are feeling the pinch on price,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out how to innovate so that we have dependability and reliability and not have a wave of problem products in 2009 and 2010.”
Both companies have guarantees on their products.
Efficiency in water and energy use also is becoming more important for the wine industry, according to Mr. Barr.
“One of my agendas for Tom Beard Co. is how it can be greener and how the machines can recycle water and be more energy efficient,” he said.
Saving water and labor was one of the drivers for Tom Beard standalone and line washers, which use hot, cold and ozonated water. Instead of a cellar worker having to spray clean the inside of each barrel between fillings, Tom Beard spray heads fit through the bunghole of two barrels at a time to scour wine and grape remnants from the interior in two to five minutes.
Both companies have developed automated washers for grape harvest containers. P&L built a bin washer for Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville in 2005, and Tom Beard created one for Rombauer’s new south Napa facility last year.
A half-ton bin washer, which limits water use and potential injury when the containers are turned over, is being developed for the P&L product line. A prototype is set to install at a winery by summer, according to Mr. Barr.
P&L already sells an automatic washer for 40- and 60-pound-capacity grape picking lugs.
After the bin washer comes to market, the next project for the two companies likely will be energy efficiency for the wash cycle, according to Mr. Barr.
Tom Beard last year built a barrel-washing system for Rodney Strong that reduces energy needed for heating wash water. It uses a heat exchanger to warm cold water going to a boiler to be brought to wash temperature with hot water going to the barrels.